Astonishing X Men missing scenes
by Madripoor Rose
Summary: Snippets of between the panels scenes inspired by the comics.
1. Chapter 1

Astonishing X Men issue 21

By Madripoor Rose

It had been a long day. Kitty was tired. Phasing through the superdense alloy that was as common as concrete around here, fighting for every step they took since she and Piotr had landed.

It was easier to think of the Breakers as monsters. Ord, who tortured Piotr, who wanted all mutants dead, who killed Wing with the cure. The Powerlord who threatened Earth. The hordes that attacked Piotr on sight. The child in the subway shouting, "kill it". Black and white bad guys. So if the prophecy came true, no big loss.

Damn Anghanna. Damn her for the home she'd opened for the sick and the old and the injured. "Hospital. You have a word for it." Damn her for saying compassion was a mutation. And God damn her to hell for telling Piotr she had always thought the Colossus was a giant. And that his fated destruction of this world could be a symbol for change.

Kitty wondered about that mural in the Palace of Corpses. Did it show Piotr with the Breakworld on his back, like Atlas?

She sat down at the foot of the bed to take her boots off. On the other side of the sheer red curtain, in the living room area of this guest suite, Piotr peeled his costume top off, shrugging into the soft gray flannellike sleepwear. Carefully, politely facing in the other direction, giving her privacy. She watched the play of muscles under his skin, and knew that even those shoulders couldn't bear the weight of this world.

She stood to undress. Thought of Piotr eagerly pulling her tank top off, grabbing his sweatpants to phase them away. Damn Emma and Cassandra Nova. After waiting, after waiting and wanting so long, they had finally made love, only to have the joy of their requited romance spoiled by the illusion of betrayal.

Kitty splayed a hand across her taut stomach and felt her lips twitch in a bitter smile. Making her believe that she was rescuing her son might have been Cassandra's escape attempt. Giving her the memory of stretch marks was all Emma.

Michael...Genosha...it had all faded to a bad dream. But she remembered screaming at Piotr not to touch her after what he'd done to her and their son. She remembered his face. And on the SWORD ship, telling him she needed time. Knowing what he faced here, she had asked him for more time.

Even though she was being unfair, he gave it to her. Shouldered the blame for the things that never happened, for things that had but weren't his fault. They hadn't spoken of it since.

"They left food," Piotr called out, breaking the awkward silence between them. "It is probably safe to eat...if you are hungry."

"I'm not."

"No. Best to sleep, I guess. Now I am Messiah, tomorrow will probably be busy." A touch of that wry Russian humor in his voice, then he continued quietly, "They bring me back from dead. They want me dead. I will destroy them. I will save them. I'm so confused...so tired..."

He sounded tired. Beyond tired. Wearied to the bone. She thought of him on his knees at Benetech, begging, pleading with her to tell him that he was dead at last, and could rest. Thought of the Legacy cure, and scattering ashes she'd believed were his.

She wanted more time. She wanted more time with him. She was afraid of loving him and losing him again. And now she knew just how stupid that was. She loved him. She always had, and always would. And she could lose him forever.

He could die trying to save this world. Destroying it would destroy everything he held sacred. Would destroy him.

Naked, she walked over and pulled the filmy draperies aside. Piotr turned at the sound of her footstep, and froze, staring at her wide-eyed, love and longing in his eyes.

"Now I am MORE confused...but somehow not as tired," he breathed, a hopeful, playful note lifting some of the despair.

Kitty had always been the skinny, geeky tomboy. She never felt as beautiful as she did, reflected in Piotr's eyes. She let her gaze trail down his body, bare muscular chest wrapped in an open gray pajama top...the red spandex shorts of his X Men outfit straining over his growing erection.

She went to him. She didn't know what the prophecy meant, but she could remind him that he had something to live for.

The End


	2. Chapter 2

Five Ways Astonishing 18 Won't Deal With The Aftermath

By Madripoor Rose

Disclaimer: Marvel Entertainment's, not mine.  
Spoilers for Astonishing 17, Bloodline

1: Kitty kept her eyes away from them both as she shoved clothing into the suitcase, shaking with rage and loss. Her stomach knotted as Piotr tried again, part of her wanting to ease the pain in his voice. Most of her not giving a damn.

"Katya...it wasn't real."

"I know. I know that, y'know? But it was real for me. And I can't even look at you right now. I know it isn't fair. I'm leaving the school shorthanded, and it isn't fair to you because you didn't do it, but damn it. I lost my faith in my husband, and I lost my baby...and Lockheed...I can't even begin... I just...I have to get out of here for a while. Logan?"

"Yeah, Kitten?"

"Look after Piotr for me. Piotr...as much as I hate him right now, I still love you. I'll be back when I can stand to be here." She didn't think it was a lie, but she wasn't sure.

She drove west after leaving the Xavier estate. It was as good a direction as any.

2: When it was over and done, the real Emma rescued, the Hellfire Club dealt with, Lockheed explained...and how startling was that, that her little dragon-baby was sapient after all, and a freaking double agent all along with SWORD holding the MiB over his head to deport him off Earth as an 'illegal alien', Logan and Beast restored to what passed for normal, and she was starting to get used to seeing Scott unvisored...it was then Piotr turned to her, raised an eyebrow, and asked, "our son?"

It was such a relief to spill it out, to take the false memories out in the light of day and examine them, that she didn't notice the closed look coming over Piotr's face.

"You believed I would do this? After Illyana, you thought I would hand over our child to be experimented on, after Ord, you thought I would allow our son to be confined? You believed I would betray you?"

She looked into his eyes, and thought wildly, I should have hit him with the axe. It would have been kinder. And let the words come tumbling out, trying to find the ones that would assure him that the dreamworld had been manipulated to that very level, that noone in it was acting the way they would, and the only reason she didn't notice it wasn't real until it was too late was because she wanted that life with him so much.

3: Kitty was breathless with kisses when Piotr rolled off of her, onto his back and sighed, "this isn't working."

"huhn?" she pushed herself up on one elbow and started to tug the covers down. "Okay, spread your legs a little, I'll..."

Piotr chuckled. "That would work, I like that very much. But not if you're offering out of guilt."

She froze, and then settled into the crook of his arm, resting her head on his shoulder. "God. I need therapy!"

"You were manipulated cruelly, Katya. I do not blame you for believing it, it was so very real to you."

"I know. I just...I can't believe I bought into it. I should have sensed it was a bad dream."

"Am I crowding you enough, or do you need more time?" Piotr suddenly asked.

"What?"

"Tell me about Michael. If it would help to talk..."

"...you took the Blackbird to Chicago and got me a Donatelli's deep dish with the works once when I had cravings. I quit the team and didn't phase while I was pregnant...Emma made this joke about stretch marks..."

4: Piotr reached over and pulled her close as soon as she got into bed. She reached up and lay her hand flat on his bare chest to deflect his kiss. "Piotr...wait."

"Michael?" he asked softly, settling back against the headboard. "Katya..." he said her name almost helplessly.

"I know. I know you didn't take our baby away from me." She took a breath, licked her lips. "But you can give him back." She looked up at him, at the shocked look on his face. "I stopped taking my birth control pills, don't wear a condom and..."

He was shaking his head.

"I know it wasn't real! But I miss him, Piotr, I miss him so much. I want to be a mother, I..I'm ready to be now. Damn it, you did this for Nereel and Fahe and you barely knew them, why not..."

The pity and sorrow in his eyes stopped her. "Katya...after I returned from Russia and learning about what happened to my cousins, about Rasputin...you went to Japan, and from there England. While you were away...before we...I decided I couldn't let the bloodline continue. Katya, I had a vasectomy."

5: Kitty lay back on his bed with her eyes closed, letting a jumble of images pass through her mind. Looking down at the little person in her arms. His first spoonful of food. His first step. His first word. The smell of talcum powder and mashed banana. The way his tiny hand curled around one of her fingers.

She gritted her teeth as Piotr entered her, and thought of the frantic few minutes she'd spent in his bathroom with a straight pin. It wouldn't be long. She would have to endure his touch until she got her baby back and then this time she'd get him far away from the X Men, to somewhere safe.

End. 


	3. Chapter 3

SWORD Ship

By Madripoor Rose

They put her in the same cell with Piotr. She sank down heavily on her bunk and put her head in her hands. Michael. It wasn't real. It still hurt. She looked up, and saw her own pain reflected in his blue eyes.

He was standing on the other side of the room, watching her warily.

...not crowding me enough...

She took a breath. Last night...it was only... "Last night. We were together last night. For the first time."

"Da." The corner of Peter's mouth turned up and she remembered the hungry kisses, hands sculpting her curves, joy equal to this pain.

"It's fading, Emma's little puppet show. That monster... But it's three years. It's us married. It's my...our son. You betrayed me."

He lifted his hands helplessly...he was too far away from her, and she'd yelled at him for trying to touch her. "It was a fantasy,"

"Yeah. My fantasy, nightmare, whatever...that's how she worked us all. She knew... You dumped me. First time we were close. You met someone else. Better. And you killed yourself one time! Yeah, temporarily and for a really good cause, but...how do I know you're not gonna...I'm just gonna need some time."

She turned to look at the starscape displayed on the monitor screen, and part of her wondered idly at starship designers who were all influenced by the same bad science fiction, listening to his footsteps approach.

When she looked back, he had knelt before her, and they were eye to eye. Just like when she found him, and he had begged to know if he was dead now, at last.

"I hurt you. I have always loved you," she flinched, and his voice cracked but he continued on relentlessly. "and I hurt you, in spite of myself. I was scared, Kat--Kitty."

"Scared?" she stared at him.

"I was nineteen! You were fourteen. You--- In Ust-Ordynski we could have been married, but in America you were a girl, a child. In my village, your life would have been living in your parents house, working in the fields and the kitchen garden, helping your mother to cook and clean, to living in our house, working in the fields and the kitchen garden, cooking and cleaning for me, and having babies," MICHAEL, something inside her wailed, and he saw it in her eyes and spoke, urgently. "Babies, Kitty! One after another after another... But in America...there was so much more...so much you could do, could choose to be... How DARE I tie you to me, be the anchor dragging you down? You are beautiful and intelligent...and deserved better than a half-literate peasant boy. There was Doug."

"Doug? DOUG? What the hell does Cypher have to do with anything?"

"He was the same age as you. Read the same comics watched the same movies and tv shows, played the computer games...understood computers the way you do. American, like you! A better match!"

"And what, you were JEALOUS?"

"NO! I knew you loved me, I trusted you. But maybe, I thought maybe you would be better off with Doug. That he was right for you. And then the Beyonder took us, and I was alone for months, wondering if I would ever see Earth again! Knowing you were in Salem Center. With him. Zsaji was an excuse to let you go. For your own good."

She slapped him. "BASTARD! How dare you? How dare you DECIDE that for me?"

He rocked back on his heels. "I was young, and stupid, and scared," he said calmly.

Kitty looked at her hands. "and dammit, Storm, Wolverine...everyone kept reminding you that you were the adult in our relationship, and you should do what was best for me."

"Da."

She looked up at him, at the earnest expression on his face, and smiled slightly. "So when did you figure this out?"

"I had a lot of time to think in Benetech, when I wasn't drugged unconscious." He shrugged. "In my own defense, I was possessed most of my life. That shard of Grigori whispering that I didn't deserve what I wanted most, that I was worthless...ever chipping away at my soul to make room for his own to be reborn. He made Larissa to cut at her wrists. At least my taking the Legacy cure was useful."

"We love each other. And we hurt each other. Peter, I don't know how much more I can stand."

"I can promise you only that I learn from my mistakes, and that I will not die again by my own hand. But given that we are headed to the Breakworld..."

"Yeah, we're headed for a planet full of paranoid aliens that want to kill you and destroy the world and I want to talk about our relationship. Right. If we survive...I want to take it slow, but I want a second...hell, a third chance. Because I do love you Peter, and we just found each other again and it isn't fair." All she had to do was lean forward a little to brush her lips against his.

And if I let this take you away from me that bitch Emma wins, she thought, and melted into the kiss.

End


	4. Chapter 4

Lockheed

By Madripoor Rose

Spoilers for Astonishing X Men 22:

When it was over, when they were on their way home, when they had had a minute to themselves to deal with what had happened and what had changed, Kitty let herself lean into Piotr's embrace for a long moment, then kissed him and reluctantly pulled away. "I need to..."

"If you need a knight in shining armor..." he offered, wryly.

"Oh don't worry. This distressed damsel is up for a little dragon slayage."

She found him perched on the 'windowsill' of the viewscreen, looking out at the rainbow-prism of warpspace.

"Liar liar breathing fire."

He turned, lowering his head and pulling in his wings like when he'd done something naughty. Like when he was her pet baby dragon. "I'm sorry, Kitty."

Part of her hadn't really believed Brand until she heard him speak. She'd always loved Lockheed, known he was intelligent...but realizing that he was a small scaly purple person was kind of freaky. He'd slept in her bed. She'd changed clothes in front of him.

Ew.

"So. You are so lucky I didn't take pictures that time Illyana and I dressed you up in doll clothes. I'm thinking prime blackmail material back at DragonWorld High Command. Can you at least tell me why?"

"We were studying you. Trying to decide if your people could be allies or enemies. I wanted to tell you. So many times. But I couldn't break cover. Even if I let it slip now and then."

Kitty blinked. "Bringing Piotr the garter at Brian and Meggan's wedding. And oh my god, you spoke to Wisdom, didn't you? Trying to make us think he was crazy."

Lockheed snorted a puff of smoke. "Wisdom was crazy. You smell happier when you're with Colossus. I'm glad you've finally mated."

"Thanks. I think. Lockheed...you could have told me. You could have asked us for help with whatever SWORD was holding over you. What's going on on your homeworld? And...what's your real name?"

The End

I wonder if that startling little plotline is going to be developed any farther in canon. Because there are some interesting places it could go.


	5. Chapter 5

Astonishing X Men Issue 22

Kiotr bedroom scene

She raised up enough to let him slip out, and settled back into his arms, resting her chin on his chest. "Whoof..." she sighed, smiling back at his silly, sated grin.

"Kitty, I..."

"Wait. Not done with whoof yet. You're more than I could have imagined. And I've imagined," she purred, watching his eyes light. No more than the truth, and she owed a little ego-stroking after the hateful things she'd said in the grip of delusion.

Piotr kissed her very lightly on the lips.

There was a polite cough, and they both turned to see one of the Breakers standing outside the sheer draperies. "Aghanne says you're to leave at first light. Our scouts have made contact with your friend Logan. You have about an hour if you wish to continue fornicating."

"That one is Dafi?" Piotr asked, embarrassed.

"Like the duck." She made herself comfortable on top of him, as best she could. "You can ask me now."

"Why? Why so soon---so suddenly?" He looked up into her eyes, concerned. She'd screamed at him, and she'd asked him for more time. And she'd walked up to him naked and invited him to join her in bed.

"Everything's so fragile. There's so much conflict, so much pain. You keep waiting for the dust to settle and then you realize this is it. The dust is your life, going on. If happy comes along---that weird, unbearable delight that's actual happy---I think you have to grab it while you can. You take what you can get 'cause it's here, and then gone."

"If we wait for the right, the perfect moment to act...we will miss it, watching for the signs, yes. I almost...I wanted you, but if you had not come to me that night..."

She kissed him. "I love you," he told her.

"Say it again."

"I love---" she lay her finger across his lips, so he kissed her fingertip.

"You're a boy," she informed him, "and you just had an orgasm, so if you say it now it doesn't count. Say it again later."

"You make me happy too," he tried.

She squirmed on top of him, enticingly. "The judges will accept that answer. Now, I believe we have another hour to kill?"

The End


	6. Chapter 6

Astonishing X Men Issue 23

The fighting was over, that was the first thing Kitty was aware of. Then Piotr gently picking her up. She snuggled into his arms and asked blearily, "Did we win?" 

"Da, Katya."

"I c'n walk..."

A gentle kiss pressed to her forehead. "You carried me far enough, let me carry you the rest of the way to the ship."

"...kay."

And she was out. To wake again aboard the SWORD ship, on a bed, Piotr undressing her like a doll. "Um, not tonight, Peter, I have a headache. And a toesache. And an everything in between aches."

"Are you still seeing orange?"

"Nah. S'all swimmy tho."

"Which is why I am going to give you a massage and then you are going to sleep all the way back to Earth."

"Ooh. Knew there was a reason I loved you."


	7. Chapter 7

They were back home, and Kitty still felt like someone had been beating her with a tube sock full of marbles. Hank had run a full physical, and had found nothing wrong. Just the strain of exerting herself too much. And the emotional fall-out from everything. She was under orders to take it easy for a few days. When Henry was done talking to her, she wasn't surprised to find Piotr waiting for her. She was a little surprised to see the gym bag he was carrying.

"You going somewhere?" she asked, uneasily.

"Just to help you shower down here. Henry wants you to use the infirmary shower, supervised. In case you faint again."

"Oh geez. I can shower myself. Upstairs. If you're that worried you can hang out in my bathroom and rearrange my medicine cabinet, it really needs it."

"Nyet. If you fell I could not catch you in time. Doctor's orders, Katya."

She grumbled a little, but followed Piotr to the large shower stall kept for invalid patients. Her eyebrows quirked a little at how very serious Piotr was taking this, as he undressed, stripping to a pair of blue swim trunks. He helped her out of the hospital gown and the slipper-socks, and sat her down on the bath bench while he turned the water on. Nice warm streams cascaded down on her, and washed some of the ache away.

He stepped back out into the anteroom, and returned. Kitty's eyebrows lifted as she recognized a green bottle. "Avalon Organic Lemon Clarifying shampoo, I didn't have any left, where'd you get that?"

"I ran to the store." Piotr produced a new shower-scrubby pouf, and a bottle of her favorite apple-scented shower gel. He knelt down, pouring a small amount of the shampoo into his hand and working up a lather. "Lean forward, a bit."

She sighed as his large, strong, clever artist's fingers massaged her scalp, easing her headache and releasing the lemon-scented foam. She closed her eyes and leaned against the wall as he used the showerhead to carefully rinse the shampoo, running his fingers through her hair along with the water to keep it from tangling. He repeated the process with the conditioner.

"Mmmmnmnnn. You have a secret history as a hairdresser you never told me about?" she teased him as he applied the shower gel to the pouf.

"No, I just know how to take care of you."

"You certainly do," she sighed, as he lifted one of her legs and washed her foot. "This'd be kinda sexy if I didn't feel like crap."

"Maybe when you are feeling better we will take a day trip to a spa, one with jacuzzi bathtubs, then. For now, you rest and I do for you." 

She insisted on taking the pouf and washing the rest of her, except her back. Piotr not only washed her back, but massaged it, and used the massage setting on the showerhead, letting the pulsating jets pound into her sore muscles.

She found another surprise out in the anteroom. Towels and warm air to dry off, Piotr had brought her comb and hairdryer and insisted on combing out her hair for her. He'd also bought her a new pair of pajamas, pale blue brushed sateen with pastel butterflies, and fuzzy slippers.

The ride in the elevator to the upper floor of the mansion was enough to wear her out, she didn't protest Piotr carrying her to her bedroom and putting her to bed. She slept fitfully for three hours, and he was still there when she woke.

Her laptop was within easy reach on her nightstand, and so were dvds for five movies she liked, two tv shows, and six books, neatly stacked.

He actually was in her bathroom, straightening up her medicine cabinet and putting aside expired cosmetics to be discarded.

"Peter?" She smiled softly. "Will you marry me?"


	8. Chapter 8

AXM 24:

Something inside Kitty's soul began to wail when she realized Scott meant to separate her from Piotr for the endgame. It was superstitious, but she had a horrible feeling that she'd just gotten him back to lose him again.

"I hate this plan. Not just the part where I can't touch you for the next twelve hours. I hate the PLAN. Scott's putting you right where the prophecy said you'd be. Don't let things get out of your control."

The corner of Piotr's mouth turned up. "I am an X Man, Katya. I am not in the business of destroying planets. Especially when I am on them."

"This is a bad plan," was all she could say when they pulled apart.

"Efreboddy's dead, the kestle is on fire, and I hef lost my hat?" he asked, quoting Girl Genius and making her laugh.

"Not quite that bad." They kissed again. Kitty burrowed into his embrace. And reluctantly let go. "Time to be heroes. Let's go save the world. Worlds."

She caught Lockheed...the alien she had called Lockheed's eye as they left, almost made a gesture for him to join her, but turned away.

Later.

If there was one.


End file.
